so much for fact-checking...

[John Flynn]

"... it's like a performance. How many of us have never made an error during a performance?" -Santiago

I get your point, but having worked in that field, I think there are two major differences from a performance: time and access to information. Time lets you read, fact check and re-read, at least for a few hours before final deadline. In a performance, you're real-time. You can't think, "I'll wait a minute and figure out what this next note is." Time also allows you the chance to get other people to proof-read for you. In a performance, you can't ask other players to tell you what the next note is while a tune is in progress.

Then there is access. The internet allows you to fact check like we never could when I was in the biz. Also, it allows you to email the article to experts or even people discussed in the article. In a performance, you can't Google what the next note is. When this happens with journalists, it means either they are too busy to do a good job or don't have the skills, which is the publisher and/or managing editor's fault for putting the wrong people in the wrong situation, or the reporter/headline writer is just going through the motions, not caring about quality, which is their fault. Sorry, I cut these guys no slack for this kind of stuff. It is "bush-league," plain and simple.

[allenhopkins]

...You only get one chance to get it right... it's like a performance...

Actually, it's more like a recording, albeit one under a tight deadline. You can tweak the mix, get another pair of ears to listen, review the "first take" before it goes into the final product. Maybe you only have 30 minutes to do so, but it doesn't have the total "live" immediacy of a performance. I don't think it's significant enough to call the whole practice of journalism into question, and I know we Cafe-ers are many times more aware and sensitive than the public in general, but really, you should get it right, and ask someone if you don't have the information yourself. Do you suppose the musician in the piece, if asked, "Hey, what do you call that instrument?" would have said, "Mandolin"? Of course, he might have said, "Irving," but that's a whole 'nother story...

[George R. Lane]

Hi George, that slide show is awesome! Wonderful pictures and great melody behind it. What is that tune?

There are two songs. The first is called Shenandoah Falls and the other is Old French. A friend gave me some handwritten tab for a few songs and I like those two the best.

[journeybear]

Well, there is one other possibility...the photographer asked, and the banjo player thought to himself "Here's how I get back for all the banjo jokes" and said, "It's a mandolin, dude!"

Come on now - April Fools' isn't until Friday. Do you really expect us to believe the banjo player could have thought through all that?

Sorry, I cut these guys no slack for this kind of stuff. It is "bush-league," plain and simple.

Yup. I've worked in the field too, and even without the benefit of any journalism courses I knew enough to get things right before going to press. My publication was bush league, but I was not, because I insisted on taking the time, and accuracy and correctness were important to me. And to the readers and subjects of the articles. Really, it was all I had to concern myself with.

[michaelpthompson]

Hey, I've got a mandolin like that. It's a rare American style. You see a lot of them at Bluegrass jams.

[mrmando]

JB has a good point: it could have been the copy editor who wrote the offending caption.

The more general knowledge a copy editor has in various fields, the better he or she is equipped to catch errors of fact as well as errors of style, although reporters are supposed to be the first line of defense against factual errors.

Copy editors frequently write captions and sometimes heads. The job used to involve marking up drafts with a pen ... I worked mostly that way until the late '90s. Nowadays copy editors are expected to be familiar with the layout software so they can make their own corrections, and sometimes fit & flow the stories themselves. I'm not sure exactly what the copy editor's duties are at the Arizona Daily Sun. Every paper does it a little differently.

[Potosimando]

Wow, George. Loved the photos. Thanks.

[David M.]

George R. Lane: GREAT work, sir. Two tunes that we play alot here, too. Thanks for posting that slideshow.

[JeffD]

Whenever the press or media reports on something I know something about, mandolins, fishing, my work, community projects, I am surprized by the amount they get wrong. Its uncanny. Even when you hand hold them through the information gathering.

Its only when they talk about stuff I know nothing about that they seem accurate. Er... ummm...

[JeffD]

Here's another example from when a local paper covered our session for St. Patrick's Day two weeks ago. That's me in the foreground with the tenor banjo, tuned GDAE, of course! "Irish Jam?" Argggh! We told the reporter like five times it was called a session and not a jam.

Atually, I would object more to the rest of the headline. It seems to say that but for this jam, you would not find an appropriate outlet for your passion. Scary implications.

Better to say something like: Musicians find something better to do with their time than reading the paper.

[journeybear]

Better to say something like: Musicians find something better to do with their time than reading the paper.

This one, anyway.

I tried to register to the paper so I could comment, correct, and hopefully educate them. Not going through somehow ...

[JEStanek]

Writers and photographers rarely write headlines. That's during layout by the copy-editors or layout folks. As for getting the instrument name correct. Bummer. It happens.

I think there have been so many print media that have cut back/merged/ layed off folks that expert writers and copy editors for local papers (which have a very small staff and fill up on wire reprorts) are increasingly hard to come by.

[journeybear]

I have tried and tried and used four emails and have been unable to post a comment - even though their system shows I have an account. Two or three, actually by now, with all the attempts I've made. If someone is more adept at this and wants to take the time and jump through these hoops, feel free to do so. Does anyone out there in the Flagstaff area and/or cyberspace care as much as we do about such matters? Probably not. But if you want to, here is what I was going to post; go ahead and use it if you like. Thank you! I have GOT to do something more productive with my day.

Ummm ... excuse me ... I don't wish to seem rude or persnickety, but that is a banjo, not a mandolin. But thanks for the mention, anyway. Mandolins don't get anywhere near the recognition they deserve. It's best, though, when they actually DESERVE the recognition.

[Denny Gies]

Can't dicide whether to say "stuff happens" or "another example of the dumbing down of America"?

[bhogue]

Isn't that what you call a 5-string mandolin? ;-)

[GDAE]

Do you suppose the musician in the piece, if asked, "Hey, what do you call that instrument?" would have said, "Mandolin"? Of course, he might have said, "Irving," but that's a whole 'nother story...

Well, if you look at the thread about what to say when people ask what the instrument is that you are playing, apparently quite a few musicians WOULD give a snarky answer to someone who didn't know any better. So it's entirely possible.

That said...I actually would think that nearly everyone knows what a banjo is, whether they know what a mandolin is or not, so a mistake in that direction is surprising.

[Randi Gormley]

I tried posting a comment as well, although mine wasn't as polite. Not rude, mind you, but more of an eye-roll. It didn't take either. It must be filtered somewhere, which means someone actually sees them, so maybe the error-maker has been notified.

(George: wow, spectacular. Many thanks.)

[John Flynn]

I actually would think that nearly everyone knows what a banjo is, whether they know what a mandolin is or not, so a mistake in that direction is surprising.

I would like to believe that also, but I have had a lot of people over the years either call my mandolin a banjo or ask if it is a banjo. Sadly, some of them were musicians. I would think the difference in size and the lack of a banjo head would be a clue, but apparently not.

[JeffD]

That said...I actually would think that nearly everyone knows what a banjo is, whether they know what a mandolin is or not, so a mistake in that direction is surprising.

Or more to the point, nearly everyone knows what a banjo is, but whether they know that it is not a mandolin is questionable."

[JeffD]

Concerned MC poster to newspaper: "You know, that was a banjo in that picture, not a mandolin."

Newspaper editor: "Whatever."

[journeybear]

HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT IS MY MIDDLE NAME???!!!???

Whatever ...

Randi - Someone did post a comment between when I first tried and gave up. Nothing to do with the gaffe, though.

[JEStanek]

When my wife was in the hospital a few weeks ago and I was playing for her in her room, the nurses asked if it was a banjo. My friend who restores old cars (Model T, Model A, steam powered tractors, etc)looks at me like I have two heads when I can't follow his engine discussions. I wouldn't know an alternator from a hydraulic drum or whatever... At least he got Hippies right!

[catmandu2]

I find this phenomenon interesting--maybe it should have a name: banjoiction? banjality? Some kind of term for the banjo predilection or something that resides in the limbic brain of Americans (obviously, remnants of the lineage of the great society's relationship with its indigenous instrument, the banjer).

[mrmando]

I should mention that not only is the Sun my hometown paper, I used to have a job delivering it!

[mandolirius]

Can't dicide whether to say "stuff happens" or "another example of the dumbing down of America"?

"decide".

Sorry, couldn't resist. I expect it's a typo.